Improvement in fountain-lamps



-Uivrrnn Srnfrns WILLIAllI J. JEFFERY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO LEROY B. FIRMAN, OF SAME PLACE.

`IMPROVEMENT `IN Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.

l5l,133, dated May I9, 1874; a plieatiou filed February 16, 1874.

To all whom yt may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. JEFFERY, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain Improvements in Fountain-Lamps, of which thefollowing is a specification This invention relates to that class of illuminating apparatus in which the lamp or system of lamps is connected, by a pipe or pipes, to a reservoir containing the oil or other liquid combustible to supply the several burners placed below said'reservoir.

In the present invention each burner is made so that it regulates itself, and allows the oil to flow in only so fast as it is consumed. To ac complish this I employ for the lamp a jacket coniiectedto the supply-pipe, into which the oil may ow through an ingress-aperture in the bottom, and rise to fill it. Within this jacket is placed the oil-pot for containing the supply for the flame. The bottom of this vessel is fitted with a projecting pin of a conical or needle shape, adjusted so that when the iiuid in the jacket rises far enough to overflow into the oil-pot, and causes it to fill and sink, the pin will enter the ingress-aperture and close it, shutting off the supply of oil,` and preventing the lamp from overflowing. When the wick has drawn out the oil from the oilpot, the oil in jacket, being higher than in the oil-pot, causes it to float, and, in rising, lifts the pin, admitting another supply of oil in the jacket, which, overflowing in the pot, causes it to sink and shut off the supply, as before, until the oil is again withdrawn from the oilpot.

Having thus set forth the principle of my self-regulating device, I will proceed to describe it more particularly.

In the accompanying drawing, which forms a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a central vertical section of the lamp. Fig. 2 is a transverse horizontal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the reservoir. Fig. 4 is a small-scale section of the lamppot and jacket, and Fig. 5 is an enlarged section of the needle-valve.

In the several iigures the saine letters denotethe same parts.

In said drawing, A represents the exterior oil-containing jacket, connected at the bottom to the sujjiply-liipe B, which communicates with the reservoir C, which may be placed at the top of the house, or in any elevated position, so that a sufficient head is given to sup ply all of the burners. This jacket A is fit-ted at top with a suitable cover, a, to which is screwed or otherwise secured the wick-tube and other necessary parts of the burner D. E is the oil-pot contained within the jacket A, and fitted at the bottom with the concave plug or pin e, which sets down into the ingress-ap erturefin the base of the jacket, and when the oil-pot is down as far as it will go the point of this pin completely iills said aperture and prevents the oil from entering the jacket. The oilpot is pierced near the top with several holes, g, through which the oil in the jacket, when it rises to their level, will flow into the oil-pot. G is a perforated or wire-gauze guard surrounding the wick-tube and attached there to, serving as a guard to prevent the wick from coming in contact with the sides of the oil-pot, while it does not prevent'the free ad= vent of the oil to said wick. It also serves as a flame-proof safety contrivance. The aper= ture f, from the jacketA to the tube B, is made very small at the bottom, so that it may be filled completely by the point of the plug e, which presents so small a surface to the oil iii the tube B that the pressure of said oil up ward is incapable of raising the weight of the oil-pot.

The operation is as follows: The oil-pot is raised first by the hand until the jacket is filled by the oil overflowing through the holes g. The flow is then shut oif by the oil-pot descending by its own weight, closing the aperture f with the pin e. Now, when the lamp is lighted the wick draws its supply of oil from the oil-pot, which, presently becoming partially empty, floats upward in the oil within the jacket, and, withdrawing the pin e, opens the ingressaperture to admit more oil within the jacket, which, overflowing into the oil-pot, causes it to sink when full, and thus shut oir' the supply. This regulation is automatic and constant, and enables me to place the burner at any distance from and below the oil-reservoir C, because the head of oil, acting merely upon the end ofA the pin e, is imableito overcome the weight of the oil-pot, and thus the 2 lml supply to the wick is always kept up without danger of the lamp overiowing at whatever level it may be, provided only that it be kept ata level lower than the fountain-head-the reservoir C.

In Fig. 3 of the drawing this is illustrated by placing several lamps, connected with a single reservoir, at different levels.

'To prevent the sinall aperture of ingress from becoming closed up by particles of foreign matter in the oil, or from becoming gurnined up with the oil itself, I apply to the pipe B, below the aperture in each jacket, a bit of wire-gauze netting, "i, of a very line mesh, which strains theV oil and puries it before it reaches said aperture.

Having thus fully described the construction and operation of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. rIhe combination of the oil-containing j aeket A with the oil-pot E and ingress-valve governed by the rising and sinking of said oilpot, substantially as specied.

2. The combination of the reservoir C, tube B, jacket A, oil-pot E, and the valve governed by the rise and fall of said oil-pot, substantially as specified.

3. The perforated guard G, surrounding the wick-tube and wick, in combination with the burner D, the iioating oil-pot E, and jacket A, substantially as specified.

WT. J. JEFFREY.

VvTitnesses JOHN W. MUNDAY, HEINRICH F. BRUNs. 

